Authorities suspect that Joshua Hakken used this 25-foot sailboat to flee to Cuba with his wife, Sharyn, and two sons, Cole and Chase. / Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office via AP

by Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY

by Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY

A Florida couple who allegedly abducted their two children in a custody dispute last week and fled to Cuba by sailboat were returned to the United States and jailed early Wednesday on kidnapping and child neglect charges.

Joshua Hakken, 35, and Sharyn Hakken, 34, were booked into the Hillsborough County jail in Tampa, where the ordeal began last week with the alleged abduction of sons Cole, 4, and Chase, 2.

The boys, who were also returned by Cuban authorities, were placed in the care of the Florida Department of Children and Families. They were checked out medically on the flight back to Tampa, which arrived around 10:30 a.m. ET, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

The Hakkens were also charged with false imprisonment, interference with custody, burglary of a dwelling with assault or battery and grand theft of a motor vehicle, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office website.

In addition, they face federal charges of fleeing the country to avoid prosecution.

According to the sheriff's office, Joshua Hakken entered his mother-in-law's Florida house last Wednesday, tied her up and fled with the boys. The family surfaced during the weekend in Cuba aboard the sailboat that Hakken had purchased about two weeks ago.

Although Cuba does not have an extradition treaty with the USA, Cuban Foreign Ministry official Johana Tablada said Cuba tipped the State Department off to the Hakkens' presence on Sunday and that from that moment "diplomatic contact has been exchanged and a professional and constant communication has been maintained."

Earlier Tuesday, Cuban authorities said they had informed U.S. authorities of the country's decision to turn over the couple and their children.

U.S. diplomats in Havana said in a statement early Wednesday that the two children had left Cuba and "are safely on their way home."

"We would like to express our appreciation to the Cuban authorities for their extensive cooperation to resolve this dangerous situation quickly," said the statement released by the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.

The boys' grandparents, Bob and Patricia Hauser, spoke to reporters in Tampa around midnight. They said that they were able to speak to the children before they left Cuba and that they were safe.

"Right now, we're just looking forward to getting them in our arms and hugging them and being with them and getting them home where they'll be safe again," Bob Hauser said.

American reporters on Tuesday had spotted the family and their blue sailboat at a Havana marina where they appeared to be settling in for a lengthy stay.

An AP reporter discovered the family beside their boat at the marina. A man who resembled photographs of Joshua Hakken yelled out "Stop! Stay back!" as the reporter approached, but there was no outward sign of tension or distress between the family members.

Joshua Hakken lost custody of his sons last year after a drug possession arrest in Louisiana and later tried to take the children from a foster home at gunpoint, authorities said.

Terri Durdaller, a spokeswoman at the Florida Department of Children and Families, said it was not clear where the children will ultimately be placed.

"Louisiana is the ultimate decision maker on where these children will reside. It's likely they will be placed back in Florida with the grandmother," she said.

Cuba has harbored U.S. fugitives in the past, though most of those cases date back to the 1960s and 70s, when the island became a refuge for members of the Black Panthers and other militant groups. More recently, dozens of Cuban Medicare fraud fugitives in the U.S. have tried to escape prosecution by returning to the island.

But Cuba has also cooperated with U.S. authorities in returning several criminal fugitives in recent years, including Leonard Auerbach in 2008. Auerbach was wanted in California on federal charges of sexually abusing a Costa Rican girl and possessing child pornography. He was deported.

In 2011, U.S. marshals flew to Cuba and took custody of two American suspects wanted in a New Jersey murder.

In 1999, 5-year-old Elian Gonzalez was found clinging to an inner tube off Florida after his mother and others drowned while fleeing Cuba toward American soil. The boy was taken to Miami to live with relatives, but his father in Cuba demanded the boy be sent back.

U.S. courts ultimately ruled Elian should be sent back, though his Miami relatives refused to return him. In April 2000, U.S. federal agents raided the family's home and he was returned to Cuba soon after. He has since grown into a young man and joined a military academy.

At the Havana marina on Tuesday, the family showed no sign they knew a decision about their fate had been made. The four strolled by an outdoor restaurant as security officials kept reporters at a distance. The youngest child was seated in a stroller and the elder boy sat down on a curb.

Contributing: Associated Press

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